Book Club for Your Tween

Book Clubs have been around for over 100 years. A book offers you a window into an unknown world. It offers you a time to relax and unwind after a stressful day. It offers you lessons in history and new knowledge. It offers you an opportunity to create a club and share with friends your love for a certain novel or literary work.

Oprah Winfrey popularized book clubs by encouraging book lovers to discuss the plot of selected books every month. There are many clubs throughout your city that you can join to make reading more fun and enjoyable.

Starting a book club for your child is a great way to form bonding friendships while you’re giving them the gift of reading and knowledge.

To begin, ask your child if they are interested in forming a book club. Let them know that the members of the group will be in charge of choosing the books they will read. This will motivate them to choose books they enjoy instead of having to read a book someone else assigns.

Ask for a list of 5 friends he or she would like to have in their book club.

Make a list of books your child would like to read. Let them choose a variety of topics from historical events, to biographies, to mystery and science fiction topics.

Once you have your list of invitees, send out an invitation requesting them to join your book club. Once you have all your members, choose your first book. Give everyone at least one week to obtain a copy of the book you will be reading.

If cost is an issue, contact your local city library, book store, or school library for copies of the book you will be reading. Some book stores offer programs for starting book clubs.

Some things to consider for your book club meeting:

• Decide on a when. Is a weekday better for you and your child? A weekend? Morning, afternoon or evening? Set aside one day, every two weeks, for the kids to meet for an hour.
• Where is the best place to meet? After school, in the library, is the most popular place for tweens to meet. Other locations can be at the local park, on the PE field or if you have the space, in your home.
• Offer snacks and beverages and a quiet place to meet.
• Have each child bring 3 questions or topics they would like to discuss.

During the book club meeting time, allow tweens to discuss the book, choose a new book for the following meeting and also allow some free time for socializing and discussion.

Some great authors for children’s books

Louis Sachar: Books include: Holes, Class President, and Sideway Stories from Wayside School series

Dan Gutman: Books include: My Weird School series book, very humorous books.

Carl Hiaasen: Books include: Chomp, Flush, Scat, and Hoot

Roald Dahl: Books include: Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, BFG (Big Friendly Giant), Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Witches, The Twits, and James and the Giant Peach

Judy Blume: Books include: Freckle Juice, Fudge, Superfudge, Fudge-a-mania, and Double Fudge, Blubber and Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

Beverly Cleary: Books include: Beezus and Ramona, Henry and Beezus, Henry and Ribsy, Henry Huggins, Ribsy, Muggie Maggie, Socks, Dear Mr. Henshaw, Ramona and Her Father, Ramona and Her Mother, Ramona Forever, Ramona the Brave, Ramona the Pest, Ramona Quimby Age 8, The Mouse and The Motorcycle, Ralph S. Mouse, and Runaway Ralph

Individual book titles

• Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
• Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
• Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
• Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan
• Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
• Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
• Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard Atwater
• Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
• Stuart Little by E. B. White
• The Cay by Theodore Taylor
• The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis

Series Books

• American Girl book series
• Captain Underpants series by Dav Pikey
• Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney
• Dork Diaries series by Rachel Renee Russell
• Magic Tree House books by Mary Pope Osborne
• Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
• Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
• Nancy Drew series
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series by Rick Riordan
• Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
• The Hunger Game series by Suzanne Collins
• The Spiderwick Chronicles series by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black

Starting a book club for your tween is a great way to continue to encourage them to love reading.